We were traveling this week in order to visit family in Ohio, and on the way home, we were joined by a banana on which we had drawn a cartoon face. Our kids thought it was a pretty good joke to photograph the “traveling banana” as it was making the trip with us.

Later I began thinking about garden fruits and vegetables. What would happen if the other produce in the garden were jealous of the pumpkins getting all the attention this time of year? Maybe it would be like this design.

Materials

• TAG light green face paint
• TAG green face paint
• Global yellow face paint
• Global orange face paint
• Diamond FX black face paint
• Diamond FX white face paint
• Paradise brown face paint
• Paradise light brown face paint
• 1/2-inch flat brush
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush

Tutorial

1. Use your #2 brush and white face paint to create two oval shapes which will become the pumpkin and watermelon.

2. Double-load your 1/2-inch flat brush with Global orange and yellow. Keep the orange to the outside of the image as you curve your brush around the oval.

For the pumpkin, make smaller curves until you’ve filled in the shape, always holding the yellow toward the center as you move your brush around the outside of the pumpkin.

For the watermelon, double load the 1/2-inch brush with TAG light green and regular green face paint. By curving your brush across the surface of the watermelon, always starting and ending at the ends, you’ll create a spherical shape.

3. In order to use one strokes, I couldn’t put the eyes in first. In order to add them now and prevent the color underneath from seeping through, get a little moisture on your brush and moisten the area where you’ll put the white eyes on the watermelon. Dab at it with a paper towel or your fingertip to lift the paint off the skin.

After most of the paint is removed from the eye area, load your #2 round brush with white face paint.

4. Add some vines and leaves around the pumpkin and watermelon with your #2 round. Reserve the light brown for the ground beneath the pumpkin and watermelon.

5. Load your #2 round brush with a good lining black, such as Global strong black, Wolfe black, Cameleon black, or Diamond FX black. These flow on more thinly and smoother, making line work crisp and sharp. Finish the eyes on the watermelon and pumpkin, and add your line work around the vines and leaves.

6. As a final step, load your #2 round brush with white. If you feel you need your highlights to be thinner and you have trouble with the #2 round, use the #1 round instead. As you place the highlights, consider whether your light is coming from the left or the right and try to be fairly consistent.

Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.